Life With the Pack

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I looked over at Dark with sudden terror in my eyes. He blinked with understanding and together we raced silently down the tunnel to the den. When we arrived, I saw that my fear had come to life: The Wilds had found our den and we were under attack.

I let out a roar of fury and launched myself at the nearest Wild, a female in the form of a grizzly bear. As I leaped onto her back, I transformed into a polar bear, squishing the female against the ground with my weight. I pummeled her back with my hind paws, feeling satisfaction with the gouges I could feel my claws making in her flesh. A roar behind me took away my attention from the female, and she quickly scrambled from under my claws and towards the cave entrance. I turned to whom the roar had come from and found myself face-to-face with a vicious male that I recognized as Scratch. I reared back onto my hind legs, but before I had time to rake my long claws across his muzzle, he, too, had transformed into a polar bear, outweighing me by more than a hundred pounds, and towering high above my head as he reared back.

Quick as a snake, I darted under his hind legs, swiping them out from under him, causing him to flop to his stomach. I spun back around to continue my attack on the winded Scratch when, for the second time that morning, something crashed into my side and knocked me off my paws. I could tell by the weight that my opponent was a tiger, and that I was much bigger than he. In one fluid motion, I rolled over onto him, and suddenly he realized that the tides had turned. I had him pinned to the ground, with his soft stomach exposed. I slammed my paws hard onto it and listened as the air quickly exited him. With my foe at a disadvantage, I started to alternate between swiping at his muzzle and raking my claws down his sides. When I felt he had had enough, I stepped away from him and watched the tiger stumble out of the cave, dragging one of his forepaws.

I turned, looking for my next challenger, when I heard a screech a few wolf-lengths away. I searched for the creature that had created the sound and spotted Flower, one of the Pack's females. She was cornered at the back of the den by two lionesses and a huge lion. Spotting Dark, I signaled towards Flower and together we bounded to the back of the den to help her. Rearing up onto my hind legs, I forced my forepaws down on the male lion's back with all of my strength. I felt his back collapse with the pressure and immediately I was on him, scraping my hind claws down his back and digging my forepaws into the thick flesh under his mane. As he tried to shake me off, I clamped my jaws hard onto his ear and he let out an ear-splitting roar of agony. With his last effort, he heaved upward, throwing me off, and ran for the tunnel leading out of the cavern.

Glancing over, I saw that Dark and Flower were driving off the second lioness, and as I watched, Dark reared back and swiped hard at the lioness. She let out a cry of pain as blood gushed from the deep scratches across her face and turned tail and fled, along with a few other Wilds that were being fought by other members of the Pack. As Dark and Flower assessed their injuries, I turned back to the battle. There were few Wilds remaining, and I launched myself at the nearest one, a deadly cobra. I morphed mid-leap into a large eagle and lunged down to grab the cobra. I heard it hiss with frustration as I clasped its head in my beak and its thick, limbless body in my talons. I flew out of the den and into the connecting tunnel, all the while sinking my talons farther and farther into the venomous snake, drawing bright red blood. As I burst into the open sky, I locked on to a tall tree towering above the rest in the forest, and dropped the snake directly above it. The Wild let out a throaty hiss, then, at the last second, turned into an orangutan. I turned to fly back to the den entrance as the Wild clutched helplessly to a branch hanging out by its self out over the surrounding trees. I fought off a screech of laughter at the orangutan's predicament as I flew back into the wide cavern the Pack's den was in.

I glanced around with surprise as I saw that most all the Wilds were gone, and the ones remaining were either being driven down the tunnel by members of the Pack or lying dead on the floor of the den. I landed next to Dark and transformed back into my wolf form, the shape preferred by all of the Pack. Looking around, I spotted Alpha Night and walked over to her. She was talking with our Beta and as I got closer I could hear parts of their conversation. "...thirteen dead. Four of ours were lost, and several more are injured," Beta Black said. He himself needed help; he was limping badly and had a severe bite on his upper back that needed to be looked at. Alpha Night looked at him concerened, nodding her gead at the news. She whispered something I couldn't make out, then turned realising I was there.

"Aplha Night," I greeted her, bowing my head. She nodded in response. "What is it Snow?" she asked, searching me for serious injuries. She seemed surprised when I only had a few minor scratches. "While Dark and I were out hunting we found more of them. There were about twenty Wilds sitting in the alcove." I reported to her. She gave Beta Black a serious glance and then turned back to me. "Thank you for telling me, Snow. I will send Black with a scouting group to check out the situation," she said. I looked up at her, excitement from the battle still running through my veins. "Can I come?" I asked hopefully. She nodded and signalled for Beta Black to gather the group now. Silently I followed him as he walked over to some of our packmates that hadn't been seriously injured in the battle. He spoke quickly and informed them about what we were doing. We were not to attack without his order, and it was to remain a scouting mission if possible.

Together our scouting group ran down the cave and out onto the ledge, then transformed into various birds and launched ourselves into the sky. Beta Black took the lead and we started off towards the alcove. As we were flying, Black established a Link with everyone in our small group so we could communicate telepathically amongst ourselves without being heard by unwanted eavesdroppers. I tuned out of the conversation about things going on in everyone's lives and focused on what was ahead. Shortly we were hovering a little ways away from the alcove. Beta Black instructed us to split up and circle the alcove without being noticed through the Link. I nodded and started making my way around to the opposite end of the alcove.

Soon I was perched comfortably on a branch of a pine tree, the branches hiding my white feathers. I tuned back into the Link and said that I was in position. I scanned the small section of clearing I could see from my lookout point. No one was there. I reported my findings, or ratger lack of, to Beta Black through the Link. Others in the group also gave reports and it seemed that there was no trace of the Wilds that were there earlier. After a while of watching nothing, Black called everyone to him. Everyone set off into the sky, heading back to the cave. I was about to launch myself after them when something crashed into me from above. Man, was I accident proned today?

I could tell this time, however, that this person had purposely crashed into me, because I felt claws digging into my fragile feathered body. Without thinking I shifted into my wolf form. The creature on my back let out a warning growl, and I returned one of my own. I took in a deep breath and froze for a second. The thing on my back was a Wild, and it was a male. He was also in wolf form, which surprised me since Wilds tend to avoid shifting to original form.

I twisted my head so I could get a sideways glance at him. He was much bigger than me and had golden-brown fur. His eyes were a very pale shade of blue. I had to admit, he wasn't bad looking... What was I saying?! He was a Wild. My enemy.

I continued staring at him for several seconds, and it startled me when he leaned close to my ear and started to speak. "If you struggle someone in your Pack dies." He had a rich voice, and I could almost feel the intensity of it in the air. Dang it! I was losing it again. I stopped my thoughts, realizing what he was suggesting. "Wait... Are you kidnapping me?!" I half growled, half laughed at him. He laughed at me. "You could say that." And before i knew what was happening he had thrown me onto his back and was running like the wind towards some place unkown to me.